Communication Devices and Methods for Sending a Message

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a communication device is described comprising a determining circuit configured to determine a measure based on the time necessary for the transmission of a message from the communication device to at least one other communication device, a comparing circuit configured to compare the determined measure with a predetermined threshold, a controller configured to decide whether the message should be sent using a collision protection mechanism based on the result of the comparison, a message generating circuit configured to generate the message and a transmitter configured to send the message in accordance with the decision.

1 . A communication device comprising:
 a determining circuit configured to determine a measure based on the time necessary for the transmission of a message from the communication device to at least one other communication device;   a comparing circuit configured to compare the determined measure with a predetermined threshold;   a controller configured to decide whether the message should be sent using a collision protection mechanism based on the result of the comparison;   a message generating circuit configured to generate the message; and   a transmitter configured to send the message in accordance with the decision.   
     
     
         2 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein with the message, data is to be sent to at least one other communication device. 
     
     
         3 - 4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the measure is a measure of the time necessary for the transmission of the message. 
     
     
         6 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the measure is a measure of the overhead introduced to the transmission of the message when using the collision protection mechanism. 
     
     
         7 . The communication device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determining circuit is configured to determine the measure based on the time necessary for including the transmission of data to each communication device of a plurality of other communication devices including the at least one other communication device,   wherein a message is to be sent to each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices and wherein the controller is configured to decide whether the messages should be sent using a collision protection mechanism based on the result of the comparison;   wherein the message generating circuit is configured to generate, for each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices a message including the data to be sent to the communication device; and   wherein the transmitter is configured to send the messages in accordance with the decision.   
     
     
         8 . The communication device according to  claim 7 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the messages to the plurality of other communication devices simultaneously. 
     
     
         9 . The communication device according to  claim 7 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the messages to the plurality of other communication devices using MIMO. 
     
     
         10 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the measure is a measure of the overhead introduced to the data transmission when using the collision protection mechanism; 
     
     
         11 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the transmitter is configured to send the message using communication resources shared for data transmission from the communication device to the at least one other communication device and for data transmission from the at least one other communication device to the communication device. 
     
     
         12 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the comparing circuit is configured to compare the determined measure with the predetermined threshold and with another predetermined threshold and determine based on whether the measure is below both of the thresholds, between the two thresholds or above both of the thresholds, whether the collision protection mechanism, another collision protection mechanism or no collision protection mechanism should be used. 
     
     
         17 . A method for sending a message comprising:
 determining a measure based on the time necessary for the transmission of a message from the communication device to at least one other communication device;   comparing the determined measure with a predetermined threshold;   deciding whether the message should be sent using a collision protection mechanism based on the result of the comparison;   generating the message; and   sending the message in accordance with the decision.   
     
     
         18 . A communication device comprising
 a message generating circuit configured to generate a message indicating that the communication device is ready to send data to each of a plurality of other communication devices, wherein the message is addressed to each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices;   a transmitter configured to send the message to each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices.   
     
     
         19 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , wherein the message is a Ready-to-Send message. 
     
     
         20 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , wherein the message requests each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices to transmit a response message indicating that the other communication device is ready to receive the data. 
     
     
         21 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , wherein the message is transmitted according to a communication protocol according to which the plurality of other communication devices transmit a response message in response to the message, wherein the response message indicates that the other communication device is ready to receive the data. 
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , further comprising a receiver configured to receive, for each communication device of the plurality of other communication devices, the response message sent by the other communication device. 
     
     
         24 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the data after a predetermined time period after the transmission of the message. 
     
     
         25 . The communication device according to  claim 24 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the data to the plurality of other communication devices using MIMO. 
     
     
         26 . The communication device according to  claim 24 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit different data to be sent to different communication devices of the plurality of other communication devices in parallel. 
     
     
         27 - 28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . The communication device according to  claim 18 , wherein the message is sent and the data is to be sent using common communication resources. 
     
     
         30 - 37 . (canceled)